Bayelsa pleads for investment from Diaspora indigenes
By Samuel OYADONGHA
The Bayelsa State Government has called on the Ijaws in Diaspora to return home and invest in the cause of transforming the state from a resource based economy into a knowledge-driven one, so as to catch up with the rest of the world.
Such investments, it said is aimed at revitalising the ailing educational sector and prevent the state from relapsing into youth militancy.
Governor Timipre Sylva, made the plea in a paper entitled, “Ijaw Nation: A Time to Reflect,” delivered in London on the occasion of the 2011 Isaac Boro Day Celebration, organised by the Ijaw People’s Association, IPA of Great Britain and Ireland.
The governor said the desired transformation of the Ijaw nation would be a mirage without the development of its educational sector and collaboration of its sons and daughters in foreign lands.
Sylva also said, “The principal challenge of our time is how to get our people to acquire the right knowledge and ideas to make them productive and competitive in the global economy. We must get education, the right kind of education, backed up with technological skills to transform Ijaw land into an industrial hub renowned for quality products and service.”
According to him, “Ijaws in Diaspora have a significant role to play in the effort to protect and improve our collective legacy. Our people all over the world must be on the same page with the government and people of our native land in the work of educating the current and next generation of Ijaw citizens and preparing them to contribute to the productivity that we need to sustain our civilisation.”
Continuing he said, “As a government, we have made the education of our people a priority. We have launched a campaign to educate our people to know the things we need to do now and those we must avoid in this generation in order not to endanger the next generation. We have tried to position our people to appreciate the changing times, understand the science of change and how to harness change for societal benefit.
“Our people in foreign lands must endeavour to be committed partners in the collective effort to build a more informed and responsible society. I am confident that if we roll up our sleeves and get to work right away, we can achieve the Ijaw land of our dream by individually contributing our quota in the propagation of this gospel.”
He commended Mr. President for thinking along this line by approving the establishment of six federal universities, one in each of the six geo-political zones with the one for the South South zone already cited in the heart of Ijawland in Otuoke, Bayelsa State.
As part of the amnesty programme, the governor added that a number of the youths who were fighting from the creeks were sent abroad for training to enable them acquire skills so that they can stand on their own and be useful to the society. He, therefore, called the Ijaws in Diaspora to support in whatever way they could to make this dream a reality.
He pleaded, “I urge you to come home and invest in this cause of transforming our community from a resource-based economy into a knowledge-based economy so that the Ijaw man can sit among those who own the future and not be among those left behind to regret lost opportunities.”
In his remarks, IPA President of Great Britain and Ireland, Mr. Isaac Namabiri, reiterated the willingness of the Ijaws in Diaspora to assist the government in its effort to revitalise the state’s educational sector.
He said plans were afoot to dispatch some of the best brains in the United Kingdom to help in drawing up a sound curriculum for the planned model schools in the state.
